Of Mice n more

I started out by testing various brushes, mostly the Japanese type brushes. I didn't intend on drawing such a scary looking bum, but sometimes the dark ink reminds me of old comic strips like Dick Tracy. So most likely this would be one of the guys he'd end up arresting;) It is very challenging to control your line with the brushes but they are fun to work with.

I also practiced with different nibs on my dip ink pens--I've done more drawings with these and feel more comfortable using them. The tiny nibs are great for little details, and I like to draw little things.

For my project I flipped through my sketchbooks, like Yuko recommended and settled on two ideas. I tend to love small animals like mice, and I love birds--yes, the smaller they are, the better!

I have two ideas that I'm trying to decide on. This would be the simpler of the two. I love hummingbirds, so Rufus here has his car--the Albatross-o-mobile. I like playing with the anti-definition of something, or taking a natural limitation off--ex. like the "fish out of water" character in that Chicken Little movie by Disney....So it's either going to be Rufus, or I will attempt something even more challenging for myself, like this below.

If you can't tell what it is, it's mice crossing a lake in a thunderstorm, headed for an island. This was born of a thumbnail in my sketchbook and is a scene out of a story in my head that I am determined to complete! It would require a lot more challenge for me as it's dealing with water/waves tossing, wind, and the dramatic lighting of the storm. Time is so limited for me right now so I may still work on the former first and practice my textures that Yuko recommended.

I like what she said about transferring your drawing as a loose sketch versus an exact copy, so that you still retain that freshly drawn look to your art. That takes a lot of pressure off--at least the pressure I tend to put on myself to make it a perfect copy! I love to see other people's projects in here. May we encourage one another on this journey!

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Update 04/29/14

Well, I decided to go with the more complicated idea...I love a challenge! I'm taking my time to figure out the textures. Having fun with this;)

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update May 5th

above is my traced image and below is the "loose" copy that I'm staring to ink...

I worked on transferring my original drawing last night. I found it a little challenging as I don't typically transfer my work but tend to draw directly over it in pen n ink. Last night I wanted to try something new and transfered my work to have a fresh drawing like Yuko suggested. So the result was a very loose drawing again. I began using the Japanese brush and found it very challenging! It does require a lot of focus and concentration to get the various widths of line correct as it is very easy to accidentally go wide when you meant to go very thin with the line. So I may be doing more than one version of my drawing in the inking stage;)

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Update Tues, May 13th

Took some more steps tonight and started with the bigger Japanese brush for the clouds and graying out of the background. Then switched to the watercolor brushes for more detail work.